To say El Paso-Gridley had a huge test in taking on top-ranked St. Thomas More Friday night would a massive understatement. Despite coming up short, the hope of ending their season with a victory is still on the minds of the Titans.

EPG lost 62-48 to the Sabers in the second Class 2A state semifinal contest at Redbird Arena. The Titans will take on Walther Lutheran tonight at 6:30 for third place.

St. Thomas More will meet Nashville for the title.

“They have everything you need to be in a state championship game,” EPG head coach Kyle Bobbitt said of the Sabers. “Tori McCoy is a freshman but she doesn’t play like a freshman. That gave us trouble.”

McCoy gave the Titans a lot of trouble. Unlike Monday, where El Paso-Gridley was able to neutralize 6-foot-3 Sophie Reecher of Byron, it was not able to keep McCoy, a 6-4 freshman, in check.

St. Thomas More had a game plan to use its height and worked it well. McCoy finished the game with 24 points and 14 rebounds. She had 13 and 9 by halftime.

“Our game plan was to try to shove her under the basket, but she played a lot stronger than what I had seen,” Bobbitt said of McCoy.

But it was more a combination of factors that did in the Titans. Besides the size of McCoy and sophomore Lexi Wallen (5-11), who finished with 20 points, the Sabers played defense with an aggressiveness that proved troublesome to EPG’s Rebekah Ehresman.

“That No. 4, she’s a tough little player,” STM head coach Chris Mennig said of defending against Ehresman. “We just tried to come at her in different ways.”

The most effective was the pressure applied by Randa Harshbarger. It was a battle of all-state guards.

“It was definitely a difficult task,” Ehresman said of going against Harshbarger. “Randa’s a great defender and it was hard to get around her. I couldn’t do too much.”

Ehresman finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds and had 7 turnovers.

Though it never led, El Paso-Gridley was still able to hang with the Sabers early. Chelsea Kessinger drained a pair of free throws with 53.2 seconds on the clock in the opening period to pull EPG to within one, at 15-14.

It was 18-14 after one quarter and 20-16 after Ehresman scored with 7:06 left in the first half.

But that was as close as EPG managed to get the rest of the way. Thanks to various reasons, including in no small part STM’s defense, the Titans did not score again until 2:58 to go in the third period.

Page 2 of 2 - The Sabers held EPG scoreless for 12 minutes and 8 seconds. They also put up 26 straight points in building a 46-16 advantage.

El Paso-Gridley’s problems were compounded by turnovers and too many one-shot trips down the floor.

“In the second quarter, (we) kind of got into a little funk,” Bobbitt said. “You saw from three minutes in the third quarter to the end of the game what our girls can do.”

The Titans shot just 31.6 percent from the floor in the first half. They hit 43 percent in the second half.

Codee Schlipf, who had to deal with Wallen all night, finally got EPG back on track with a 3-pointer with 2:58 left in the third quarter. The Titans outscored the Sabers 10-6 in the final three minutes of the period.

El Paso-Gridley also outscored the Sabers 22-10 in the final frame. Although St. Thomas More went to the bench more frequently, there was always at least one starter on the floor until the final minute.

In fact, Mennig brought back starters Harshbarger, McCoy and Erica Wallen after an EPG timeout with 3:38 to go in the game.

“Our girls are able to bounce back,” Bobbitt said. “We dream big, we’re here for a reason but we still want that third-place trophy so we’re going to lay it all on the line.”

There is still determination among the Titans, who moved to 29-2.

“It stinks to lose, but we lost to a good team,” Schlipf said. Schlipf finished with 14 points to lead the EPG offense.

“It hurts now losing, but it will be nice to end the season with a win,” senior Jenna Souhrada said, who scored 11 points. “You have to look at it in a positive way.”